http://www.thefabricator.com/Punching/Punching_TechCell.cfm The Punching tech cell is packed with specific links to help you find product information, suppliers, technical articles, case studies, seminars and conferences, as well as books, software, and videos on metal fabricating-related topics. en-us http://www.thefabricator.com/RSS/images/thefabricator_rss.gif http://www.thefabricator.com Copyright 2007 FMA Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. official publication date Tue, 21 Aug 2007 11:15:49 AM CDT Vicki Bell Laurie Harshbarger http://www.thefabricator.com/Punching/Punching_Article.cfm?ID=1687 Are you busy putting out fires? Is management by crisis preventing you from being proactive and establishing a preventive maintenance system for your tooling? Does your tooling gather more dust than uptime? Do you think you know your tooling needs, or do you collect data that shows your tooling needs? You could divide the fabrication world into two types of shop: those that have a preventive maintenance (PM) program, and those that don't. If you have worked in enough shops that pr... Craig Padget Wed, 08 Aug 2007 12:00:00 AM CDT http://www.thefabricator.com/Punching/Punching_Article.cfm?ID=1658 Increasingly metal fabricators are turning to automated equipment to reduce punching production downtime and costs, streamline manufacturing, minimize material handling, and address a shortage of skilled labor. In some parts of the world, low unemployment and high wages lead job shops and contract manufacturers to invest in capital equipment rather than in additional labor. Automation can help small subcontractors compete with larger fabricating operations. Automated equipment hel... Anthony Marzullo Tue, 10 Jul 2007 12:00:00 AM CDT http://www.thefabricator.com/Punching/Punching_Article.cfm?ID=1529 Anderson Metals, Greenwood, S.C., had a chance to win a large job from Eaton Electrical, but it needed new tooling for its turret presses to turn around a weekend job. Fortunately, the company found a tooling source that didn't need weeks for the delivery. Sometimes a new business prospect provides a catalyst for change. Sometimes that change makes an entire business more successful. For Anderson Metals, a full-service sheet metal fabrication shop in Greenwood, S.C., both p... Tue, 09 Jan 2007 12:00:00 AM CST http://www.thefabricator.com/Punching/Punching_Article.cfm?ID=1415 Maximizing productivity and efficiency of a fabrication operation is usually a matter of taking a series of small steps as opposed to one giant leap. In Good to Great, author Jim Collins highlights the experiences of several Fortune 500 companies that have achieved spectacular success by implementing several small initiatives rather than a single major event. This principle applies to achieving success in a fabrication shop. By doing many small things right, fabricators can put the... Andy Spence Parsons Tue, 08 Aug 2006 12:00:00 AM CDT http://www.thefabricator.com/Punching/Punching_Article.cfm?ID=1392 Ilinox's Express Bender panel bending machine, which features automated load and unload of sheet metal blanks, is fed by its large Night Train storage system. A strong independent streak exists in the American psyche. It helped forge an industrialized nation out of the wilderness and establish a democratic society envied by many in the world. But with an independent mindset comes a stubborn streak. When a country has so many natural resources, talented citizens, and open space, ... Dan Davis, Executive Editor, The FABRICATOR® Tue, 11 Jul 2006 12:00:00 AM CDT http://www.thefabricator.com/Punching/Punching_Article.cfm?ID=1388 For 45 years Generac Power Systems has helped homeowners and businesses withstand the unpredictable forces of Mother Nature with standby power-generation equipment. So when the company's Eagle, Wis., metal fabrication facility needed to power up the productivity of its punch press tooling, it looked for technological advancements to help its operation run more smoothly. Located near Milwaukee, the 240,000-square-foot plant fabricates and installs durable generator enclosures made... Tue, 11 Jul 2006 12:00:00 AM CDT http://www.thefabricator.com/Punching/Punching_Article.cfm?ID=1234 Image courtesy of Wilson Tool Intl., White Bear Lake, Minn. Storage cabinets run the gamut in terms of expense. On one end of the spectrum are expensive cabinets that have large, high-capacity drawers with features such as high-quality slides and drawer lockouts. At the other end of the spectrum are inexpensive cabinets that, although they serve the purpose, are made from light-gauge metals and have mediocre slides and no extra features. Although these cabinets are very different in ... Joel Pierson Tue, 10 Jan 2006 12:00:00 AM CST http://www.thefabricator.com/Punching/Punching_Article.cfm?ID=1133 Figure 1This special-purpose tool punches self-locking, spring-loaded tabs that snap into prepunched holes, thereby eliminating the need to weld connecting joints. The concept of design for manufacturability (DFM) has been around for more than a decade, but recent advances in punch press tooling design can help facilitate DFM initiatives. New types of punch press tooling make it possible to perform many secondary fabricating operations on the turret press as well as standard punching-i... Andy Spence-Parsons Tue, 09 Aug 2005 12:00:00 AM CDT http://www.thefabricator.com/Punching/Punching_Article.cfm?ID=1117 Hayward Pool Products manufactures heaters and pumps for both inground and above-ground residential and public pools. The 400,000-BTU/hour heater heats a 25,000- to 100,000-gallon pool, according to the company. Hayward Pool Products, Elizabeth, N.J., produces all of the metal fabricated components for its swimming pool and spa heaters and pumps in its 60,000-square-foot Nashville, Tenn., facility. The company ships finished goods to two warehouses, one located in the eastern U.S., Cle... Kate Bachman, Associate Editor Tue, 12 Jul 2005 12:00:00 AM CDT http://www.thefabricator.com/Punching/Punching_Article.cfm?ID=1090 This full ironworker has an X-Y coordinate CNC punch positioning table and a CNC plate feeding and measuring system. In today's production shops, time is critical, and money—whether it's how much of it you make or what you invest it in—is vital. For these reasons, an ironworker is a piece of equipment to consider, especially if your company saws or burns structural metal (angles, beams, and channels) or steel plates and drills holes in these sections. An ironworker,... Don Letourneau Tue, 10 May 2005 12:00:00 AM CDT